Brain Fact # 11
Physical Exercise and the Brain
Physical exercise seems to slow and perhaps even halt or reverse the brain atrophy (shrinkage) that typically starts in a person’s forties, especially in the frontal regions of the brain responsible for executive function. In other words, exercise (aerobic exercise) can increase the brain’s volume of neurons (grey matter) and connections between neurones (white matter). This is possible according to neuroscientists because physical exercise triggers biochemical changes that spur neuroplasticity – the production of new connections between neurons and even of neurons themselves. Fred Gage’s research at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies has shown that exercise helps generate new brain cells, even in an aging brain. At the same time, exercise helps protect these fledgling neurons by bathing them in nerve growth factors (called “neurotrophins”) which contribute to the survival, maintenance and growth of neurones. Finally, physical exercise triggers the formation of new blood vessels (angiogenesis) in the brain.